This weekend, we had some fun celebrating Chinese, or The Lunar, New Year. We also looked forward to Valentine’s Day.
It was a weekend with a lot of red (no, not for communism). Obviously, Valentine’s Day always means red decor, flowers, etc. But I heard an interesting story about why red is also the good luck color of the Chinese New Year celebration:
Filed under Seasonal
For better or for worse, I’m kinda swamped in work at the moment. But I wanted to drop in to share two pieces of information that I’ve enjoyed so far this week.
First, did you know they found Richard III of England under a car park?!?
Second, did you know there is talk of a national high speed rail?
Old Rich would be turning over in his… parking space if he could see the world today.
Filed under History Buff, Science
Today I’m going to meet up with someone who is about to strike out on her own freelance adventure.
From what I’ve gathered, she’s a bit nervous, and is wondering if leaving her job is even the right decision in the first place.
My plan is to encourage her, and promote the freelance lifestyle.
Of course, I assume she is not four weeks pregnant and about to lose her “reliable” transportation.
Quitting my job less than a week before learning of my condition, along with the subsequent fatigue, nausea and preparing that comes with said joyous state, turned out to be a good thing. But I would not recommend it as a business plan. The main reason it was so excellent was that the job was causing me too much stress, and that’s not good for fetuses. It also gave me time to really prepare for the baby mentally, physically and in the home.
Filed under I'm a Professional
There’s a lot of cooking in big pots at our house this time of year. It’s too cold, and the days are too short, to mess around with entrees, side dishes, etc. Just throw it all in a pot and we’ll eat it with some rice.
Now that Iris can eat just about anything, I’ve taken to giving her blended portions of whatever I’m eating. So far she’s tried homemade shells n’ cheese with veggies, bulger with salmon and veggies and a Mexican-inspired concoction of black beans, avocado, mild salsa, spinach and corn. I’ll tell you, earlier this week that child ate an amount of food that would almost put me to shame (if you’ve seen me eat, you know what I mean).
Filed under Of Family and Children, Recipes
For most of her life, Iris has made her parents very happy with her sleep habits. Once we got over that hump of the first few weeks, she was actually letting us get several hour stretches of blissful snoozing. For many months, we could count on her to stay in bed – seemingly contentedly – for nine to 12 hours.
Then, I got to learn about sleep regression. I’d heard about it, and pitied the poor parents that experienced it at the four month mark. Our baby slept peacefully through that age.
But now she’s 10 months old. She can sit, crawl, pull herself to standing, move around a bit on her fat feet, find her grandma’s nose and dance to music. Obviously, sleep is not the priority. I think that little brain is working really hard, and that’s awesome. I’d much rather have her be mentally active than the opposite.
Filed under Of Family and Children
The trees look better with leaves
and the grass looks much better when you can see it.
The roofs should be black;
the sky should be blue.
I see you, pretty winter
and raise you
no glass.
…sorry, just not feeling this cold front and snow thing. On a positive note, the days are definitely getting longer!
Filed under Seasonal
The people in this picture are obviously not living a 2013 Michigan January.
Happily, so far, our 2013 January has not been nearly that snowy, and no one’s asked me to wear a restrictive white lacy collar.
I admit I am sleepy. Although we’ve mainly avoided the nasty illnesses going around (knock on laptop), it’s still cold and dark and gray out there.
Work is making the time go faster, however. There were some supervisory changes at the company for whom I do most of my work, and that’s made the past several weeks both busier and smoother freelance-wise.
Of course, with Iris being 10 months old (as of yesterday), she’s also making the days very full… and frighteningly fleeting.
I love having a career, but on so many of these cold winter days, I really do wish I could cuddle up with her in a nest of blankets and watch The Tudors Weeds? Season 2 of Sesame Street.
Filed under I'm a Professional
The other day I got to thinking about pepper, because I love it. I put ground black pepper on just about everything, so much that my husband makes fun of me for it.
For some reason, it occurred to me that I did not know the difference between white and black pepper. And it bugged me.
So, I looked it up.
Both black and white pepper come from the plant Piper nigrum. The difference in color relates to the level of ripeness and the treatment of the berry.
Black pepper is a whole, unripe pepper berry.
White pepper is the seed of a ripe pepper berry.
Now I know, and I feel better for it.
Filed under Recipes
In going back and reading the earlier parts of this story, I realized that I should make it clear that this isn’t meant to be anything astounding or well planned. I will only say that it is loosely (oh, so loosely) based on the Irish myth of Cessair. I’m just writing blind for fun here, folks. Such a novel idea, I know.
If you want to start from the beginning, here’s Part 1.
When we got in the tent I changed my skirt and hung the other to dry near the hearth. It was one of my favorites, even in advanced age and with numerous snags. Despite Fintan’s attempts to convince me to turn it into a rag, I insisted on keeping it as a garment for fishing, berry picking and other outdoor tasks. It was just strong enough to be practical, and just delicate enough to let me feel like a grown woman.
Fintan went to work preparing the fish for dinner. I’d not caught much, but it would make a nice meal for the two of us. I’d try again tomorrow for a larger catch that we could dry.
“Who was that small man, out there with everyone?” It came out of my mouth suddenly, as if by suggestion. I almost looked around to see if he were there with us.
Filed under Of Family and Children
At nine and a half months old, Iris is enjoying a varied diet. We started a few months ago with apples, sweet potatoes and peas, and now she’s enjoying Swiss chard, tofu, quinoa, avocado and so much more.
Of course, summer squash and zucchini still have to be hidden within the carrots and whole wheat pasta.
Don’t worry – I let her have a little fun too. Over the weekend she got her first taste of pizza, and several small bites of our friend’s homemade mango-peach sorbet.
Filed under Health, Of Family and Children
